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Well, this same thing

Well, this same thing happened to my 2006 hybrid 2 days ago and now they are telling me it is my ABS system. Basically to replace the whole thing will cost $7,400 and it is not under warranty. I have 55K miles and concur that this is ridiculous to happen with such low mileage on the car.

This same ABS issue occured

This same ABS issue occured with me 2 days ago and the dealership said I would need to replace the entire system at a cost of $7,400. Needless to say, I am very luck that I was able to come to a complete stop with out hitting anything or causing a major accident. I have reported my complaint however there is no recall. This is absurd....I have 55K miles and the entire brake system is going out.

We have had our 2006 Mercury

We have had our 2006 Mercury Mariner Hybrid 4x4(same vehicle as the FEH 4x4)since 2005. We have 40k miles and it has been a good car. We have had minor repairs, mostly because Ford used some inferior parts when they built it.

We are having some problem with the ABS now, there is lots of information on the web about problems with the ABS on the FEH. We are having a cracked tone ring replaced on the rear axle. I am having it replaced and having new rotors and ceramic pads put on the front for a total of $521. I have a good mechanic who is not a dealer. I have heard of people paying the dealer over $700 just for the tone ring replacement!! I will say that one problem owning a Hybrid is that every one jacks up the price of materials and labor. When I went to get an air filter I found that paper filters were $35, twice what they run for regular vehicles. I ended up buying a K&N filter for just a few dollars more and will never need a new one again. It was the same when I went to the dealer for a quote on new rotors and pads. Thank God I found a good independent mechanic that knows what he is doing with Hybrids.

We also have a Subaru Outback and I think for over all cost of ownership, performance, MPG (which is almost the same) and reliability, I think would go with another Outback. I've found that Ford's customer service and quality doesn't measure up unfortunately.

'05 FEH, not experiencing

'05 FEH, not experiencing brake failures, but have had to replace the front rotors 5 times in the past 17K miles after going 150K miles on the originals. First 4 were not to factory spec. (4th set was put on at a Ford dealership). The last set was supposedly specially designed for the hybrid, but they are warping now as well. Ford engineers must have made a design change (thickness, alloy, etc) along the was as a cost savings. Have now spent $3500 trying to resolve what appears to be a design issue. $2500 of that was at the recommendation of Ford corporate to replace the steering mechanism(???). then the dealership realized they had put on the wrong rotors as well. I've seen similar posts on other blogs. Have been told a couple of times that the problem is "bad driving habits" and am having a hard time maintaining composure in response to these comments.

I have a 2006 FEH that I

I have a 2006 FEH that I bought with 3 years ago with 42,000 miles. l now have a 109 thousand miles and have had the AC compressor, MECS Pump, battery Fans, transmission, and power inverter replaced. I had the premium Ford Extended Service Plan so it really did not bother me that much except for my time. Two weeks ago, I brought the car in for service and the mechanic said I needed a new 12 volt battery(original) desperately and front brakes. I proceeded to let the Ford dealer do the brakes but not replace the battery and this is where my problems with my brakes began. After picking up my car, I noticed that the pedal was mushy and the car did not stop as agressively as before. I attributed this to new brake pads having to wear into the rotors. After 200 miles, and the car not stopping as well as before, I decided to try and do some hard stops to try and bed the pads to the rotors. I drove the car home and later took it out to get dinner. On my way to get dinner, the ABS and brake light came on and the brake pedal went almost to the floor. I called the dealer and asked him to check out all his work because I never had a break issue before the break change. After checking the DTCS, he said my ABS lost calibration and I had a low battery code. He said the battery may not have supplied enough voltage to the ABS module, and it lost its calibration. I declined the calibration and told him to proceed with changing the rear brakes . I did not want to do the calibration in fear that, if my bad battery was the cause, it might happen again. The car seems ok now and I have no DTC codes on the dash LCD and I replaced the 12v battery. My ? Is do I really need the calibrate the system again. I still don't know if the car does not stop as well because the brakes only have 400 miles or the ABS needs a calibration. It is around 300 dollars to reprogram the ABS. What do you think? Could the low battery have caused the ABS to lose calibration? Also can the ABS module reprogram itself? I don't see how the information could get lost. Your opinion would be much appreciated. Marc K

Hi Marc
It sounds like the

Hi Marc

It sounds like the dealer didn't bleed the front brake fluid properly if the pedal was mushy. Air was still in the system. If you don't have an ABS light, you should be fine now. If a proper brake job was done, the brakes should work better than they did when they needed changing. New brakes should work like a new vehicle.

A brake calibration is done when you first start the FEH after the battery was disconnected or power was lost. The workshop manual says you should start the engine in Park and press the brake pedal down so computer can automatically calibrate the brake pedal. I've never heard of calibrating the ABS module, only replacement if it's bad.

Sounds like you just had a bad battery or connection in the first place and the dealer ripped you off.

I also bought the shop

I also bought the shop manual and read about the pedal travel calibration error code and how to recalibrate the pedal travel. However, there is an error code C1473 which is the brake system valves calibration data failure. I am not sure if that is what the mechanic read of my car, but he told the service advisor that I needed to recalibrate the abs system and it would take 2 hours. The shop manual says to follow diagnostic tool directions to calibrate valves. Then it says repeat self test and if you get another C1473 code replace hcu. Do you need to bleed the brakes when you do a brake job. From what I gathered in the manual, it says to only service bleed the brakes when a component is replaced. I am not sure when they do this calibration if they also bleed the brakes. If there is a drop of air in the system, will it ever dissipate? Do you think after front(400 miles) and rear (100 miles) driven that the brakes just are not broken in and that is why I feel that I have to press harder to stop the car? Is it normal to bleed and replace the brake fluid on a ford escape hybrid after 6 years and 100K ? If so how much should it cost? One last thing, when you pull the dtc codes from the dashboard LCD in diagnostics mode, does it read brake trouble codes. Also will the scan gauge two read anything other than pcm codes? Thank you for your help, Marc K

I also bought the shop

I also bought the shop manual and read about the pedal travel calibration error code and how to recalibrate the pedal travel. However, there is an error code C1473 which is the brake system valves calibration data failure. I am not sure if that is what the mechanic read of my car, but he told the service advisor that I needed to recalibrate the abs system and it would take 2 hours. The shop manual says to follow diagnostic tool directions to calibrate valves. Then it says repeat self test and if you get another C1473 code replace hcu. Do you need to bleed the brakes when you do a brake job. From what I gathered in the manual, it says to only service bleed the brakes when a component is replaced. I am not sure when they do this calibration if they also bleed the brakes. If there is a drop of air in the system, will it ever dissipate? Do you think after front(400 miles) and rear (100 miles) driven that the brakes just are not broken in and that is why I feel that I have to press harder to stop the car? Is it normal to bleed and replace the brake fluid on a ford escape hybrid after 6 years and 100K ? If so how much should it cost? One last thing, when you pull the dtc codes from the dashboard LCD in diagnostics mode, does it read brake trouble codes. Also will the scan gauge two read anything other than pcm codes? Thank you for your help, Marc K